Tumor Forkhead Box Q1 Is Elevated, Correlates with Increased Tumor Size, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics Stage but Worse Overall Survival in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Patients.

Forkhead box Q1 (FOXQ1) regulates epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) cell proliferation, migration, and invasion; however, its prognostic effect in EOC patients is unclear. This study assessed FOXQ1 expression in EOC patients by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and to analyze its correlation with EOC patients' clinical features and prognosis. FOXQ1 protein level in tumor and adjacent tissues from 173 EOC patients who underwent resection was detected by IHC staining and further scored by a semiquantitative scoring method; meanwhile, FOXQ1 mRNA level in tumor and adjacent tissues from 105 out of 173 EOC patients (whose fresh-frozen tissues were available) was detected by RT-qPCR. Besides, EOC patients' clinical features and survival data were collected. Both FOXQ1 protein ( = 173) and mRNA ( = 105) levels were increased in tumor tissues compared with adjacent tissues (both  < 0.001) in EOC patients. Meanwhile, tumor FOXQ1 protein level was positively correlated with tumor size ( = 0.005) and International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage ( = 0.037), while tumor mRNA level was only positively correlated with tumor size ( = 0.015) in EOC patients; however, they were not correlated with other clinical features such as histological subtypes, tumor differentiation, peritoneal cytology, and so on (all  > 0.05). Moreover, FOXQ1 protein ( = 0.030) and mRNA ( = 0.011) levels in tumors were both correlated with worse overall survival (OS) in EOC patients. FOXQ1 is elevated in tumor tissues, and its high tumor expression correlates with increased tumor size, elevated FIGO stage, and worse OS in EOC patients.